To clean or not to clean question....

[Joe58]

Hi guys -

I just wanted to see what the consensus is for cleaning up your vintage knives in your collection.

Even if you've no intention of carrying it. I've always been told that with antiques, one of the worst things you can do to the value of your antique is try to restore it yourself. You need to know what you're doing.

Myself, with my old knives with way heavy patina I tend just to leave alone but make sure they've a coating of oil. I'll wipe down the blades and some crud comes off of course, but not all. I may clean out the gunk from the blade well, etc., but no scrubbing of the blades with Flitz or whatever.

So is that the best policy for on down the road concening your knife collection? Just keep them maintained enough to stop further corrosion, but no scouring of the blades or other more aggressive cleaning measures.

If it's a knife I plan to carry and enjoy, I'll buff those up pretty good, but I'm not too concerned about sits collector value. But truthfully, with my small collection, most of my examples aren't all that great to begin with compared to some of you guys' that I've seen pictures of on here. Lol,

Thanks! Joe

[knife7knut]

I don't usually go to great lengths to clean and re-profile a knife unless in doing so it would not affect the value anyway. If I had a particularly valuable knife I would basically clean it inside and remove any active rust spots with a #2 lead pencil;put a drop of oil on the pivot pin(unless it is a cel handled knife ;those I do NOT oil as I believe that can trigger out-gassing)and maybe a quick wipe down with a mineral oil soaked rag if it has bone or stag scales and put it away. I also store them in wooden machinists' boxes that are felt lined and every drawer has a dessicant bag that is changed every 3 months or so.All my knives are kept in a room out of the sunlight and more or less temperature controlled.I have had very little problems with corrosion.

[TripleF]

All depends on your intentions really.

If selling, the montra is "Shiny Sells!"

I do not see any problem with polishing knives with patina with Flitz. I think that only protects what you have. But that's my take.

Us old school guys like and understand patina, but it doesn't bring near as much as a shiny knife that's the equivalent.

[mrwatch]

I am not a true knife collector. If it is showing rust or deterioration I would try to clean it and prevent it from coming back. I have been an antiques and toy train collector and dealer dealer for years. Many people completely restore old trains. Many new or reproduction parts and exact color paints are available. With old toy trucks etc. it seems they like them as found only. Note that the TCA is very specific about marking restored or repro items that are for sale. To many people get burned. Same goes for fakes and fraudulent or misrepresented glass and china. Books- many books and picking peoples brains is the order of the day. So many companies closed or burned down or just threw out all the records, let alone the old timers with a wealth of knowledge have passed on. I hope all will help preserve our antiques and share their knowledge.
Bob

[djknife13]

Joe, with metal polish or pencil lead you aren't going to do much, if any damage to an old knife. When you mentioned buffing, I get the chills even for a carry knife with little collector value. Way too many knives have been ruined by buffing, not only by removing any factory finish, but by heating up the metal and taking the temper out of the blade. You can turn a $2 user or a $500 treasured antique into a worthless piece of metal and plastic in a minute or two. I don't like seeing an old knife looking shabby so I do clean carefully which I know some collectors hate for me to even mention, but to each his own. ___Dave

[knife7knut]

I can relate this thread to the general feeling in the auto restoration industry. There are three fields of thought there:One is the people who do not(or will not)restore a car under any circumstances;instead preferring to leave it in it's,"as found" condition. They will get the mechanicals done but leave the paint finish and upholstery untouched.
Second are the people who restore a car to the point where it becomes a caricature of it's original self. These are the ones who insist on having all the screw heads line up at the same angle and retain the original chalk marks and tags under the hood and sometimes even paint overspray. All the date coded items have to be period correct and the build sheets(whether original or reproduction)are dutifully installed in their proper positions. These vehicles will then be lodged in climate controlled garages(some even in plastic bubbles inside the garages)and the only time they see the light of day is when they are pushed by hand into their climate controlled trailers to attend a show of other similarly treated vehicles.
The last type are those who would take any car and modify it to suit either their own tastes or that of a customer. It doesn't matter whether the car has historical significance or is exceedingly rare;anything is fair game. I offer this case in point:
A friend of mine who specializes in acquiring and restoring historical custom show cars called me about doing some pinstriping on a car he was building for a customer. When he told me what he was working on I couldn't believe that someone would actually cut up one of these cars to make a hot rod as a restored example would be worth in the neighborhood of five MILLION dollars!
I told him I would do the job and he stated that I couldn't take pictures of the car as it was being readied for a show that stipulated that no pictures of the car could be distributed prior to it's first showing. He also explained why it was not being restored.
When the owner purchased the car it came less engine and transmission. He advertised for them and found someone who had a "rebuildable" engine and transmission that was correct for the car(it may in fact have been the original engine for the car as so few of them were made) and the price was only.........drum roll....... six hundred and fifty THOUSAND dollars! He decided that rather than pay that and then have to spend more to rebuild it he would install a later model engine and make it into what he wanted in the car. The car is still unfinished at this time as the owner has had some financial troubles of late.
Anyway the purpose of this long rant was to basically say that in the end you can do whatever you feel is right if re-sale isn't your top priority.

[TripleF]

Ok.....I'ver got to know:

1). Pencil lead? Where on a knife? Purpose?

2). How in the world do you know if the temper is missing from a knife.....what the heck is temper?

[philco]

Scott,

Pencil lead is used to remove rust. It is fairly hard, hard enough to scrape away at the rust, but not hard enough to damage the steel of the knife blade. I like to soak the rusty blade in some oil overnight then wipe it off and use the pencil lead to remove the rust. The oil seems to soften up the rust and make my efforts with the pencil more productive.

Temper is a term referring to the hardening of the steel usually through a prescribed heating and cooling process. Most of the time if a blade looses its tempering it is the result of being exposed to very high temperatures. This can happen in a variety of ways. I've seen Boy Scout knives that had obviously been exposed to fire and had blue hues to the steel. ( Boy Scouts are notorious for liking to play with fire. ) Temper can also be lost when someone uses a grinder, belt sander, or other source of friction inducing heat on a blade. The best way to know if a knife has good tempering is to sharpen it and use it. If it takes and holds a good edge, it's properly tempered.

[Joe58]

Some very good advice given here. I'll have to give it some thought.

And I'll admit that I hadn't heard about using a pencil before either.

Thanks!

[rea1eye]

There is no correct answer. Someone may want to just leave the dull finish, rust, and patina
alone and just use the knife as it is. Someone may want to completely recondition the knife to
make it look like it did 20, 30 or 40 years ago.

I love to buy old knives, not abused, but has been used and has some history behind it.
I spend a lot of time on making the knife as sharp as can be expected, well lubricated so it
closes and opens smoothly, and looks very clean for its age. I will get all the dirt, lint, and
rust out of the valleys in the knife. I will also slightly buff the scales and bolsters to make it
look like the knife was well cared for. I really get a lot of enjoyment in doing these things.
I also try to do a little research on the knife ( google, Ebay, knife forums) to find out
everything you can know about that particular knife.

Right now I am looking for a old knife that has bad scales but great other parts. Send it off
to a guy and have some new scales placed on the knife. I guess here the knife will no longer
be original but will have some custom work- one of a kind.

Bob

[Joe58]

There is no correct answer. Someone may want to just leave the dull finish, rust, and patina
alone and just use the knife as it is. Someone may want to completely recondition the knife to
make it look like it did 20, 30 or 40 years ago.

I love to buy old knives, not abused, but has been used and has some history behind it.
I spend a lot of time on making the knife as sharp as can be expected, well lubricated so it
closes and opens smoothly, and looks very clean for its age. I will get all the dirt, lint, and
rust out of the valleys in the knife. I will also slightly buff the scales and bolsters to make it
look like the knife was well cared for. I really get a lot of enjoyment in doing these things.
I also try to do a little research on the knife ( google, Ebay, knife forums) to find out
everything you can know about that particular knife.

Right now I am looking for a old knife that has bad scales but great other parts. Send it off
to a guy and have some new scales placed on the knife. I guess here the knife will no longer
be original but will have some custom work- one of a kind.

Bob

Seems that way doesn't it? With my knives that I carry, I keep those in very good condition with plenty of TLC.

With the cleaning up of, that was directed more towards knives that are just for my collection, and won't be used. Those, I pretty much just take steps to do a minimal cleanup and maintenance to stop further degradation. But I don't try and get all the patina and history off them either.

[Colonel26]

Daddy showed me the pencil trick when I was a kid. I've used that a lot through the years. You can dig out rust and corrosion without marring the metal.

I clean off any rust and our gunk, treat the steel with EEZOX, and call it good. Patina is pretty!

[Joe58]

Daddy showed me the pencil trick when I was a kid. I've used that a lot through the years. You can dig out rust and corrosion without marring the metal.

I clean off any rust and our gunk, treat the steel with EEZOX, and call it good. Patina is pretty!

Nice. I've gotta give that a try. Kind of a shame that more and more we're losing these little bits of knowledge with the ongoing neutering of our young men. But that's an entire other rant.

[djknife13]

Besides collecting old knives in good condition, one of my favorite things to do is digging through junk boxes of knives at shows for old knives that are in sad shape and value is pretty much been lost to abuse or age, but can be brought back to life with sandpaper, glue (patching pieces of missing scales) and polish and oil, and then using then for work knives or giving them to grandkids for life lessons that will probably get the knife confiscated by my kids. I do what I can to un-"neuter" the next generation as you put it. And I get all that cleaning urge out of my system before I land a good knife. ___Dave